KULAI, Malaysia: She was a jovial girl who always smiled at her brother-in-law and called him "jie fu" (brother-in-law).

That was how Alex Wong, 28, remembers his 16-year-old sister-in-law Lai Ying Xin who was kidnapped and brutally killed last Friday.

Wong, who first met the victim about three to four years ago when he started dating her eldest sister Ying Hui, 20, said Ying Xin was close to him and often SMSed or called him.

"She was the only one who called me "jie fu" among her other siblings.

"It always made me smile," said the technician during a press conference at their home here yesterday.

Wong, whose birthday was on Thursday last week " the day Ying Xin was kidnapped, said he waited for her SMS birthday wish but it never came.

"I waited for her SMS but I still did not get any message even when it was 11pm.

"The last time I saw her was on Sept 5 when I bumped into her having tea with some friends at a cafe at Taman Indahpura," he said in between tears, adding that she worked part-time to help ease the financial burden of the family.

He also said the family had prepared for the worst when the kidnappers refused to let them hear Ying Xin's voice when they called.

Wong said one of the suspects had called them to console them and asked about the victim.

He added that through the victim's friends and colleagues they learnt that the suspect had courted his sister-in-law but she rejected him.

The victim's mother, Chia Siew Phen, 45, said Ying Xin was a very filial daughter.

"It is hard to find such a filial daughter these days. I hope that justice will prevail and the criminals punished for the crime," she told MCA president and Kulai MP Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, who visited the family yesterday.

Ong said he was saddened and angry when he learnt about the tragedy.

"A teenager with a bright future has been killed cruelly and this has enraged the entire society.

"I contacted the Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff and had his guarantee that police will explore every angle in the investigation," he said.

Ong also called for more crime-prevention efforts.

Kulai Jaya OCPD Supt Zulkifli Yah'ya said they were still doing the DNA compilation and thus the body had not been returned to the family yet.

Ong told the victim's family to be patient and let the police perform their duty thoroughly.

Ying Xin's partially-burnt body was found in some bushes in Taman Putri, Kulai, on Tuesday.

Four suspects have been detained to assist in investigations.